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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: TobagoJack who wrote (70183)1/4/2011 5:26:43 AM
From: Maurice Winn2 Recommendations  Respond to of 217652
 
CB has been doing an excellent job of protecting debtors against the depredations of creditors who loaned their hard-earned money to people who feel morally superior in not repaying the loans. Would debtors feel any greater obligation to ensure their Chinese creditors are repaid in full, or at all? <especially if one's wealth is completely domiciled within the embrace of the more fierce, needy and therefore terrible of the legal domains. > I have a suspicion that debtors [generally, with some exceptions] do not feel particular sympathy with their creditors and my experience is that debtors can be quite angry at creditors. Perhaps especially if said creditors "took our jobs".

Somehow, having a pile of assets sitting somewhere feels very exposed. In olden times, people built castles and stashed gold behind cannons and impregnable defences where possible. Sir Frances Drake and other government pirates have long been idolized as heroes of the state. Revolutionaries with tumbrils and guillotines have likewise thought themselves admirable. Maoistic mania was a global good [by their own lights].

Being physically domiciled, and with assets alongside, within a still functioning society is always highly desirable. Umpty million refugeees have always voted with their feet.

It seems that en masse, Americans are unlikely to want to repay debts with interest. Abrogating the loans is a likely if not inevitable outcome. The loans are being diluted daily by the pixelation process of Big Ben who declared years ago that he could provide unlimited resistance to deflationary implosion. He is true to his word.

Mqurice



To: TobagoJack who wrote (70183)1/4/2011 7:51:11 AM
From: Cogito Ergo Sum  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 217652
 
sobering as usual :O) still not counting on government pension as part of plan... home ? still only insurance.. not a true
asset.. meanwhile....

From: russet 1/3/2011 8:45:52 PM
of 1406

Australians sinking under debt burden Nick Gardner From: The Sunday Telegraph January 02, 2011 12:00AM

dailytelegraph.com.au

AUSTRALIA is heading for an economic crunch as family finances collapse under the burden of record debts, rising interest rates and utility bills.

With banks warning they will be forced to raise mortgage rates by 0.50 per cent in 2011 and Sydney rents forecast to rise by between $160 and $190 a month, according to analysts Residex, householders look set to suffer.

Repossessions and tenant evictions are expected to rise sharply. "It's going to be tough" said Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP Capital.

"Families face many rising costs and while most people have slowed their borrowing, our debt is still growing and that's a big problem."

When the global financial crisis hit in 2008, Australians started paying down credit cards and loans, but quickly began piling on the credit again when it became clear we had avoided the worst of the crisis.

According to the Reserve Bank, Australians have added almost $220 billion to household debt levels since the beginning of 2008, taking our borrowings to a record $1.3 trillion.

Despite more cautious spending in recent months, household debt is still up by 5.8 per cent on a year ago and a recent survey by Westpac found only about 20 per cent of people thought paying off debts was the best use of their money. Most households in the US, UK and much of Europe are still busily paying down their borrowings, particularly unsecured debts such as personal loans and credit cards.

"Unlike the rest of the world, Australia has slipped back into its old habits," said Steve Keen, professor of economics at the University of Western Sydney.

"We're spending ourselves right back into trouble. With so much extra debt to service, we don't need interest rates to reach anything like the 9.6 per cent they hit in 2008.

"We may find repossessions spiking much more quickly than they did two years ago."

In the first nine months of 2008, before the RBA began slashing interest rates, 1300 families lost their homes in NSW.

Mr Oliver has estimated that debt will become unmanageable for many households when mortgage rates rise from 7.80 per cent to about 8.50 per cent.

"At that stage homeowners could hit a wall," he said.

Economists are forecasting three 0.25 per cent rate hikes for 2011, taking the typical mortgage rate to 8.55 per cent.

Craig James, chief economist at CommSec, said households may have to pare back budgets. "People can cut back on pay TV, holidays, mobile phones and all types of other discretionary spending," he said.



To: TobagoJack who wrote (70183)1/4/2011 1:45:32 PM
From: Cogito Ergo Sum  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 217652
 
gold at a crossroads here at least short term...



To: TobagoJack who wrote (70183)1/6/2011 12:02:36 AM
From: Lazarus2 Recommendations  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 217652
 
solid they may be indeed...

shiny gold may be dull, cold platinum may not warm the heart, antibacterial silver may not kill the blues, but they are reassuringly solid

but...

every try to EAT them?

my friend's sister in San Diego has over 2 million dollars worth of silver and gold in her safe at her home.

of course, when you possess such a treasure much of your life and emotional energy is consumed in protecting it from thieves who "break in and steal."

and should times necessitate she exchange her gold for food it would not surprise me to see those who have supposed gold to VALUABLE find themselves willing to exchange large sums of it for small sums of bread.

i would not in a million years wish to be in a city such as Hong Kong or New York where i work to gain a fiat currency (or gold) in order to exchange it for Black Angus and grapes raised on the other side of the continent.

i would prefer to be close to the fields from which all the bounties of life that i truly need AND ENJOY come from (do you know ANYBODY that ENJOYS gold?).

you can have the concrete jungles. i will visit them on occasions - but that's all.